By Jessicah Nyaboke
Operations at the Uasin Gishu County Hospital have been paralysed following the ongoing strike by clinical officers.
According to Joseph Chebii, the Secretary General of the Kenya Clinical Officers Association, North Rift region, the government has failed to honour the clinical officers’ return-to-work formula and sign a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
Speaking to the Media, Chebii said that services being offered at the facility are minimal, and a majority of patients have been forced to go back home after failing to get medical attention.
Long queues have also been witnessed at the hospital located at the heart of Eldoret City.
“It has been a total of 8 years now, and no agreement has been reached so far, the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is concerned,” he said.
The association now wants the Council of Governors and the national government to initiate talks with the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) and ensure the strike comes to an end as soon as possible.
Do interns treat patients in Kenyan hospitals?
In addition, Chebii said that due to the ongoing clinical officers’ strike, intern health workers have been left to treat patients, and yet they have no experience.
Leah Sugut, a health worker from Trans Nzoia County, lamented that for the last 19 years she has worked, she has not been paid anything.
Sugut pleaded with the government to employ them on permanent and pensionable terms so that they continue helping Kenyans.
Similar sentiments were shared by Kennedy Tallam, the chairman of the Kenya Clinical Officers Association Uasin Gishu chapter.
He said governors and the national government should embrace dialogue with the striking health workers as patients across the country continue to suffer.
Clinical Officers play a central and multifaceted role in hospital settings where they are licensed independent practitioners trained to deliver a broad range of medical services.
In hospital outpatient departments (OPDs), clinical officers serve as the primary point of contact for patients, diagnosing and treating common and serious illnesses across all age groups, while in inpatient wards, they manage patient care, including admission, monitoring, treatment, and discharge.
